Random Nature

There is an ornithological gaffe in this installment :)

What happens when two graduate students on a simple drive through the glen for a forest ecology conference in Scotland, UK turns into a primal standoff?

Also Harris Sparrows (Birds I miss)

Learn more:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Harriss_Sparrow/id

Just in time for spooky season, a special bonus episode inspired by true events. When two American graduate students take a wrong turn on a remote Scottish forest road, they encounter something ancient and territorial in the fading light. This is a story about what happens when human carelessness meets wild instinct, set against the backdrop of endangered species and vanishing habitats. It is a tale of ecological horror that asks: who truly owns the forest? Contains themes of conservation, consequences, and one very angry bird. Oh I also introduce the next guest. Listen to the end for a bonus vocalization of the Capercaillie!

https://ebird.org/species/wescap1?continue

I sit down with the one and only Waterfall Hunter. He tells me about alligators that watch his cousins play basketball on the court. I hear all about his hometown of Cross, South Carolina. Fair warning — I giggle through most of this one, because the stories he brings back from his memory are like nothing you’ve ever heard. This conversation goes way off script, so settle in and enjoy.

Link to Waterfall Hunter's photos: https://www.instagram.com/waterfall.hunter/?hl=en

A fraternity on campus was involved in a major gender-based violence incident. The university administration? Total radio silence. 

Then, instead of going after the president’s office or student conduct—you know, the people who actually have power—online outrage got aimed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Yeah, the bird lab. In the woods. Which has nothing to do with Greek life. The Lab of O’s funding—which comes from memberships and grants—is under threat, as misguided persons online telling people to delete the Merlin app damages research pathways and community trust, putting grad student funding and vital research in real danger.

Learn more:

https://www.cornellsun.com/article/2026/10/guest-room

 Step into the treetops and discover the extraordinary life of Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874–1927), the brilliant American ornithologist and illustrator who revolutionized wildlife art and some amazing birders of Latinx heritage continuing in that important work!

Urban Bird Project: https://urbanbirdproject.org/

Latino Outdoors: https://www.instagram.com/latinooutdoors/?hl=en

Cornell Lab of O's Celebrate Urban Birds: https://celebrateurbanbirds.org/

Galeria EVA: https://www.instagram.com/galeriaeva/

In this episode, we hear how a litter box lid, some leftover charcoal, and a total refusal to do any research somehow produced a thriving romano bean plant from seeds obtained for free at a America250 thing in Brooktondale, NY. The host is just as surprised as you are.

Bonus episode that discusses a massive, power hungry data center that will destroy critical wildlife habitat and public health combined in the Great Dismal Swamp.

Please note my cat is loud toward the end, sorry. He hates data centers too.

link:https://www.facebook.com/jeff.staples.33/posts/so-there-will-be-data-centers-in-chesapeake-the-ft-williams-farm-was-sold-in-its/10245555699053073/

Article on the health and environmental risks of data centers:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/climate/articles/10.3389/fclim.2026.1648912/full

Nature Conservancy Resilient Land Mapping Tool

https://www.maps.tnc.org/resilientland/

Social Vulnerability Index

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/place-health/php/svi/index.html

In this Bonus Episode Christy shares about yet another New Year that begins Season 5 on the podcast. She discusses the part August plays in her grief journey as well as her time in fellowship and community with the Great Dismal Swamp Enslaved Ancestors Ceremony where she provided remarks in Williamsburg, VA. Christy announces the latest recipient of her son's memorial arts scholarship as well.

Lastly she mentions the next invited guest scheduled to appear.

Great Dismal Swamp Enslaved Ancestors Ceremony

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/enslaved-ancestors-remembrance-program-tickets-1991307857406

https://mubita.net/

Bray School Lab

https://www.wm.edu/sites/brayschool/

Tim Lorelli Youth Music Camp

https://www.instagram.com/timlorelli/?hl=en

On this episode of Random Nature, Dr. Kathryn Benjamin Golden talks to us about growing up in the Bay Area of California, her new book, This Insurgent Ground: Black Women, Marronage, and Rebellion in the Great Dismal Swamp. She also shares a random nature moment that involves MEGAFAUNA!

BY THE WAY-- In the middle there is a brief moment of quiet due to a tech hiccup but we pick right back up.

Get Kathryn's book here:

https://uncpress.org/9781469697970/this-insurgent-ground/